Scorching Heat Give Texans Good Reason to Turn to Solar
Friday, January 13th 2012 1:40 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
There is nothing to make a family think it might be time to invest in a residential solar installation quite like opening up the electricity bill after a particularly bad month. Most families in Texas could hardly avoid having a bad month over the past year as searing temperatures scorched the whole southern half of the country and left much of the state parched.
CurrentResults notes that data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show Texas to be the fourth-hottest state in the entire U.S. on an annual basis, behind only Florida, Hawaii and Louisiana. With an average temperature of 64.8 degrees Fahrenheit, the state can be blistering hot and often stays muggy well into the night. In Austin, Texas, where the Popp family lives, average daily highs can reach as hot as 95 degrees in July and August, according to CountryStudies.us. That deep into the summer, even the lows only fall to 74 degrees.
But even living with temperatures like that year in and year out hardly prepared many Texans for last summer. New record high temperatures were set all across the southern U.S., sometimes shattering century-old records, according to Weather.com. In Austin, the city saw its hottest July and August, hottest month ever at 91.6 degrees, highest temperature ever at 112 degrees and longest streak of 100-degree-or-higher days with 27 consecutive. All of these records had stood since 1897.
Texans were fortunate to an extent that when they were suffering through those temperatures with their air conditioners cranked up that the state had made a major shift toward natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration notes that after seeing residential electricity rates rise steadily to hit 13.04 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2008, prices actually declined for the next three years, averaging 11.27 cents per kilowatt-hour through September 2011.
Yet despite these falling electricity rates, residents of the Lone Star state saw few enough savings on their utility bills. In 2010, when rates had fallen lower than 22 other states to 11.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, Texans still faced the fifth-highest monthly bills, paying an average of $138.99 each month, according to the EIA. Even with the decline in electricity rates, many Texans were likely to see their costs skyrocket with these record high temperatures.
The Popps decided not to accept these bills lying down, taking advantage of the support from their hometown to make use of the blistering heat. The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency reports that Austin Energy, the city's utility, actually offers a variety of both efficiency and solar incentives. For homeowners like the Popps, the utility offers as much as $15,000 for residential solar installations worth $2.50 per watt of capacity, as well as a net metering guarantee.
With the backing of their utility, the Popps contacted Solar Community about the possibility of a rooftop solar installation and found they could reasonably afford a system of as many as 30 solar panels. Combining for a capacity of 5.4 kilowatts, the solar installation should produce more than 7,600 kilowatt-hour every year, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This would account for more than half of the average Texan's electricity needs and save the Popps more than $860 each year even at the currently low rates. With Austin Energy offering a rebate of $13,500 and a federal tax rebate covering another 30 percent of the cost, these kinds of savings should add up quickly to a major return on their investment.
Arizona solar installations have lagged behind many other areas of the United States, particularly given the huge potential in the state. However, PV Magazine reports that a new pr ...
In a testament to the state's commitment to solar power technology, Arizona's Paradise Valley Unified School District announced this week it has completed the installation ...
When you think of pizza, one of the last things that probably comes to mind is solar power. In Arizona, a pizza shop recently had a solar panel system installed on its grounds, pro ...
Far above the Arizona desert, a solar powered aircraft eclipsed the world record for a long-standing endurance flight after it flew uninterrupted for 14 consecutive days this past ...
Subscribe
There is nothing to make a family think it might be time to invest in a 
